Mayor's Veterans Day Speech

On her final day as mayor of Littleton, Brinkman was honored by the VFW Pat Hannon Post 4666 for her "Distinguished service in furthering the aims and ideals of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the United States."

Every year on Veterans Day, the VFW Pat Hannon Post 4666 and American Legion George C. Evans Post 103 hold a service to honor past and present veterans at the World War II Memorial in Ketring Park.

The following speech was written and delivered by Mayor Debbie Brinkman at the Veterans Day service on Monday, November 11, 2013

Good Morning.

First, I want to thank the Pat Hannon VFW and the George C. Evans American Legion Post for inviting me to speak. It is an honor and a privilege.

Were I not the mayor I would not be standing here. I know that and that’s okay.

I’ve never worn the uniform, been to war, been wounded or
scared in a battle. I’ve never left my family for months or years to
travel across the world to fight for and defend my country. I have never
eaten an MRE, carried a sea bag, put on combat boots, shot at an enemy,
or held a dying friend. I have no idea what war is like. I have no idea
what any of you have experienced; your fear, your bravery, your
suffering, your survival. I know nothing of what you know.

And so, I stand here today and I remove my designee as mayor
– today, I am simply a grateful American. And I represent grateful
Americans who don’t have the honor of speaking to their heroes on
Veterans Day. I represent grateful Americans who wish they could reach
out and thank each of you personally.

Thank you. Two words. Eight letters. We say it all the time –
sometimes we don’t even think about it when we say it: I like your
shoes. “Thank you.” How are you? “Doing well, thank you.” Can I get that
door for you? “Thank you.” Within seconds we have moved away from that
moment and have forgotten what we said and to whom we said it.

So where is the power, the emotion in “thank you?” When do
two words – eight letters – earn their stripes as words of gratitude?
Words of appreciation? Words of thankfulness?

It happens when we put action behind the words. It happens
when we look into someone’s eyes and speak from our heart. It happens
when we remember what we said and to whom we said it. It happens when we
say it because we mean it and not because it’s an auto response. It
happens when we don’t plan for it and we aren’t prepared for it but we
are stirred to say it. It happens when we let our heart speak.

I was in Washington D.C. in March and visited the Vietnam
Memorial and the National World War II Memorial. Walking along the Vietnam Memorial, I passed a mother sobbing while her young daughter
clinched her hand, a father scratching pencil across paper to capture
his son’s name from the wall, a vet in a wheelchair who was handing a
tissue to a tearful older man, an older couple desperately searching for
the name they wished was not on that wall. There were countless teddy
bears, crosses, flags, and candles covering the ground…and I was
overwhelmed.

I turned away and looked across the reflecting pool. But the
sounds continued; the soft crying, sniffling, a deep breath, a child’s
voice, a tissue being pulled from a box, gravel crunching as people
moved around in search and then, “Here it is. Here he is. He’s here.
It’s here. I found it.”

My eyes burned, I could feel my heart ache, my throat
swelled and my head filled with two simple words, eight letters…and they
seemed inadequate. But I had nothing else. And so I repeated these
words silently and as I started to walk away, I quietly whispered them. I
had to let them out – I had to pass them to the air to swirl around the
mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, sons and daughters who
were standing at the wall grieving alone. I have never meant two words
more than I did that day, at that time, in that place.

And so, the emotion is met with action. Gratitude collides
with thankfulness and we move into a place of thanks – giving.

It is believed we lost our last World War I American veteran
in 2011. May they all rest in peace and know that they left behind a
grateful nation. May they all know the sound of those two words and feel
the passion of the voice who spoke them.

Since World War I, the United States of America’s Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard have fought in ten battles:

World War II

Korean War

Vietnam War

Bay of Pigs

Grenada

Invasion of Panama

The Persian Gulf

Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Invasion of Afghanistan, and the

Invasion of Iraq

We open our arms and our hearts and welcome them all home.
They did not all come home alive, they did not all come home whole, many
are not yet home, and we continue to send many back into harm’s way.
The enormity of their sacrifice is beyond compare. So how do we dare to
believe two words, eight letters is enough?

John F. Kennedy said, “As we express our gratitude, we must
never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to
live by them.”

So, it isn’t enough to say it – we need to be it. Grateful.
Thankful. Appreciative. The greatest prayer you can say is “Thank You.”
Two words. Eight letters. But weighted with love, gratitude, humility
and understanding.

Each day that passes we move further away from these wars.
The heroes pass, time pushes in new headlines, life gets in the way of
the past, and we move through our own days and months and years.

Ceremonies are important but our gratitude has to be more
than once a year. We honor these men and women most by living well.

In closing I would like to share this passage from President
Ronald Reagan from a speech he gave at the Veterans Day Ceremony at the
Vietnam Memorial November 11, 1988 – I took the liberty of adding the
last two words…

For too long a time, they stood in a chill wind, as if on a
winter night's watch. And in that night, their deeds spoke to us, but we
knew them not. And their voices called to us, but we heard them not.
Yet in this land that God has blessed, the dawn always at last follows
the dark, and now morning has come. The night is over. We see these men
and know them once again -- and know how much we owe them, how much they
have given us, and how much we can never fully repay. And not just as
individuals but as a nation, we say we love you and thank you.